Lake Has 'Lots Of Room' For Housing Boom, Builder Says

June 23, 1985

Q: What are the growth projections for Lake?

A: Of all the projections we have for Lake County -- and if it's true about the 40 percent growth factor predicted for us in the next six years -- the bulk of that is going to be east of Eustis and Mount Dora.

Q: What are the contributing factors in Lake County's upswing in home building?

A: The only thing that has held us back in times past is the availability of jobs and land. Some of these things have changed, with the citrus freezes and a lot of properties on the market at a good price. As the population grows, the availability of jobs is there and we are now looking at the commuting situation to Orlando, which wasn't so much the case before.

Q: Most of the new construction is residential. Is Lake County becoming a bedroom community for Orange?

A: There's nothing wrong with being a bedroom community. A lot of people are saying we have to bring in industry and jobs. What we should realize is that we have people and they create jobs, because with people we have to have doctors, dentists, barber shops, beauty parlors, people working for the cities, construction people, etc.

Q: What are some of the potential problems that could stem from a building boom in Lake County?

A: Of course, you've always got to worry about the impact on roads, utilities and schools. I think the shopping kind of takes care of itself because we are now developed pretty highly with shopping centers in Lake County.

Q: Is there enough land available to support a building boom?

A: Now if you get in an airplane and fly over Lake County you will see that it is an extremely rural county. We have lots of room to grow. We can't go and put a fence around Lake County and say nobody else can come in.

Q: How long do you think this boom will last?

A: This ought to be a good year, depending on what the government does with the deficit, and if it goes through like it ought to then next year ought to be a good year too. In the Sun Belt, as long as we are not too overstressed on roads and services, I think we can keep plugging along with healthy 10 percent and 11 percent interest rates. What's going to happen a year from now? I think we are into a healthy cycle in Lake County. I think with the land that is available to us now, we can't have anything but a healthy situation.

Q: What is the home builders association's role?

A: One of the major things is to try to keep an eye on legislation for us, to try to protect the builder. We try to protect the property owners and the builders' rights with any new legislation coming out. Also, the association is an organization where either a homeowner or a prospective homeowner can come to us to find builders' names, or people who want to do some remodeling of their homes can come to us and we can give names out to them.

Q: Who are the typical home buyers in the county?

A: Everybody deals with quite a few retirees. It's been our experience, too, that families we deal with are smaller, having not more than two children. Many times there is only one child. It takes two incomes to afford a house in most cases. It's just a fact of life.

Q: What is the price range of homes being constructed today?

A: Houses only, not any land values, can vary quite a bit. But a house only could be some place in the high $20s and on up. The bulk of our house-only construction jobs are in the $30s and low $40s but that just happens to be what we solicit.

Q: What is the average new homeowner wanting in house size?

A: Three years ago, it was three bedrooms, two baths; and now the case is two bedrooms, two baths.

Q: Why is the two-bedroom home becoming more popular?

A: The emphasis on houses now seems to be energy efficiency. You want to save a little of your square footage so you can take that money and put it into something like a high-energy heat pump air conditioner, insulated windows and doors, a hot water heat recovery unit, good ceiling insulation, plants and trees for shade. Retirees don't want any more than two bedrooms. With the young people also, two bedrooms seem to be fine. Instead of having their mortgage payment higher, they would rather have it a little lower and have their home more energy-efficient.